Last summer I fished the Dean River as a substitute with the Totem Fly Fishers
of Vancouver. They have established a camp on the Dean and use it as a base
for the summer run of steelhead. I was assured by past Kilpatrick Fly-fishers
president Neville Gosling that the Dean River would be the place to catch
my first
ever steelhead. He had assured me in the past that I would catch a steelhead,
but it had not happened.
Neville Gosling, author Art Lingren, Franco DiGiovanni and I were the third
group
in camp. Our stay would be from August 7 to August 14.
Day 1 I never even felt a fish and my thoughts turned dark and gloomy.
Day 2 At 4:15 PM I hooked and landed a 37.5" female on a fly I tied
myself. I
think my shouts were heard all the way back to Saskatoon. In 20 years of fishing
the Dean, Art's biggest steelhead went 39". This was the biggest fist
of the week
and, since it was my first steelhead, I think this fish is perfect for the
Gerry
Jackson Big Fish Story Award for 2001.
Let me set the scene... During the night the river did not come up and by
afternoon it was clearing and dropping. This is important because the steelhead
reed low water levels to make it through the turbulent waters of the canyon
below the Totem Camp. After lunch, the river's level was 32" on the gauge.
In the
Island Pool I had a small steelhead smolt follow in my fly. A few casts later,
an
enormous Chinook salmon of at least 40 pounds broke water very close to me,
causing me to worry about being knocked over if one should swim into me.
Casting the Teeny 200 sink tip on my new Sage 9 1/2 foot 8 weight was quite
a chore.
You have to strip in the line until the gray colored sink tip neared the tip
of the rod then
begin double hauling until a good length of line was in the air before
firing it back out once again. Art told me to make three short strips of line
before
beginning to seriously strip in the line, in case a steelhead was following
my fly. I
made the first strip and was ready to make the second when the line went tight.
I
thought it might be bottom, so I lifted my rod hard against the solid object.
Then
line started coming off my reel. The object turned out to be my first steelhead.
It
ran a few yards downstream, then leapt high out of the water before charging
upstream and taking out all my fly line plus plenty of backing.
It held in some fairly fast water, allowing me to get the backing and most
of the fly
line back on my reel. As I coaxed the huge steelhead into shallow water, it
went
crazy and tore back back to the river's center. It did this several times
before I
was able to lead it into the quiet water on the bank. A quick twist of the
fly, some
photos of a shaking Wayne holding a magnificent fish and she swam off
upstream to where she would spend the winter before dropping her precious
eggs into the Dean's gravelly bottom. From the photo it is fair to say that
I look a
little "pumped" and you would be right. I was wild with adrenaline.
My steelhead
jinx was broken forever.
Day 3 I landed no fish, had a few "taps", but no solid hook ups.
Day 4 I had on 3 fish, but only landed 1. The ones I lost were due to incredibly
goofy things on my part.
Day 5 I had several really good pulls, but no solid hook ups.
Day 6 Had 2 fish on and landed 1. The fish that broke me off jumped at least
6
feet out of the water before throwing the fly.
Day 7 I went 2 for 2. I took 1 on a floating line with the fly fished just
under the
surface film and my last fish I took on a floating or " skated"
fly, a difficult but very
satisfying way of taking a steedhead.
Day 8 No fish taken in the morning before we flew back to Vancouver.
In all I had 8 solid hook ups and landed 5 fish. The jinx is over and now
I can get
on with steelhead fishing secure in the knowledge that I have indeed hooked,
battled, landed and released steelhead. What a glorious feeling.
Wayne Phillips